


Dreams Fade to Dust

by MandalorianDragonTrainer



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Extreme Angst Warning, F/M, Gen, Infinity War spoilers, Tony Cannot Catch a Break
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-08
Updated: 2018-07-08
Packaged: 2019-06-07 00:34:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15206912
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MandalorianDragonTrainer/pseuds/MandalorianDragonTrainer
Summary: For two months, Tony has been too afraid to contact her. Afraid that she too will be gone....





	Dreams Fade to Dust

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by this Tumblr post: http://andyl394.tumblr.com/post/173461052786/imagine-tony-coming-back-to-earth-entering-his

Two months had passed. Two months since Tony slipped on his spiffy new tracksuit and nudged his fiancée awake, inviting her on a morning jog, energized by the exciting prospect the dream had brought. Two months since a golden portal opened beside him, wrecking his picturesque stroll and beckoning him to untold danger. Two months since a blade was thrust through his side. Two months since an innocent little boy turned to dust in his arms.

It was pure rage—unadulterated _hatred_ —that gave Tony the strength to even stand up, to stop him from laying down to die on the desolate dust-field of Titan.

 _Thanos_.

That monster. Wherever he had to go, whatever he had to do, he would find him. He would kill him.

But he had to see her first.

He managed to convince Nebula returning to Earth was their best bet. If anyone could help them find and defeat Thanos, he assured her, it was the Avengers.

That is, assuming any of them were left.

Nebula’s ship was spectacularly slow in comparison to the space donut that brought him to Titan in the first place. That trip took hours. This one was taking months.

He passed the time by tinkering. It didn’t matter what with. The ship’s engine. A box of nuts and bolts. Anything to keep his mind off what he’d lost.

And what he may have lost.

Nebula suggested he start sending out transmissions to Earth, let them know they were coming. But he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Out of fear there wouldn’t be an answer.

_Where were you?_

It was all anyone could ask when Nebula’s ship crashed in the African savanna, near the borders of Wakanda.

How serendipitous.

Tony couldn’t blame them for asking. He was asking himself the very same thing. Where were you, Iron Man? Where were you when Earth needed you?

A sliver of hope swelled in his heart when he was reunited with what remained of his team, in the empty Wakandan throne room. He cried when he saw Rhodes was among the survivors. He hugged Steve, though any apologies remained unspoken.

They were past any of that.

The young Princess, acting regent in her brother’s absence, arranged for a jet to return Tony to New York. Wakanda was now acting as the Avengers’ base of operations, but he needed to collect his suits.

Or so he told them.

He hadn’t called her. He’d been too afraid. Afraid that there would be no answer. Afraid that I’ll he’d hear was the defeating silence that now consumed half the universe.

Her car was in the garage when he arrived. His fingers fumbled with the keys, only to find the door was unlocked. It was exactly as it had been two months before, when they headed out on that jog. The kitchen lights were on. The ceiling fan was whirring softly. The TV was playing—another broadcast assuring the population to remain calm as the authorities got to the bottom of whatever was happening.

He stood in the doorway for a moment, finding his voice.

“Pepper?”

No response.

“Pepper? Pepper, I—I’m home....”

He wandered into the kitchen. There was her phone, plugged in on the counter. He touched it gently.

_100% charge_

_1,938 unread messages._

_“Pepper!!!”_

Where was she? Where _was_ she?

Tony shot up the stairs, frantically checking each room, bawling Pepper’s name. She had to be here. She _had_ to be. She had to be all right.

The door to the bathroom was closed, though the light glowed from under it. Tony ripped it open—

—and narrowly avoided stepping in the black ash coating the floor.

“No....”

He slid to the floor, back against the wall.

“Pepper.... no....”

His fingers traced through the dust. This couldn’t be her. No, not his Pepper. She couldn’t be gone. Not like Peter. No, he couldn’t have lost them both.

No.

NO.

“NO!” Tony tore at his hair. “NO, NO!!! PEPPER, NO!!”

He grasped the counter for supper and staggered to his feet, nearly breaking the faucet as he doused himself in water.

_Wake up, wake up._

_This is a dream. She’s not gone._

_She isn’t gone! She isn’t—_

All thoughts ceased as his eyes fell on an unusual item, out-of-place amongst the normal toiletries. His entire body froze.

“It can’t—it can’t—“ he mumbled to himself as he leaned over to study the object.

A raw sob caught in his throat as he noticed the two lines.

His dream. Turned to dust.

Moaning in grief, Tony collapsed to the floor, a wave of nausea swept over him.

Peter was gone.

Pepper was gone.

His baby was gone.

And in that awful instant, Tony Stark realized he no longer had anything to live for.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this instead of working on “Stolen.” Now I’m crying.


End file.
